Many organisations know that Microsoft Project will change. Fewer realise how many products are affected at the same time, and what that means at portfolio level. By 2026, multiple Microsoft Project–related platforms reach a decisive point:
- Project Online will be shut down on September 30, 2026
- Project Server 2016 and 2019 move into security-updates-only and then out of support
- Several desktop and cloud variants reach lifecycle transitions within the same timeframe
Individually, these dates may seem to look manageable.Together, they form a compound risk that affects governance, security, cost predictability, and the way organisations run projects.
Lifecycle decisions are often assessed per product, like:
“Project Server is still supported”
What this approach misses is the portfolio effect. When multiple platforms transition simultaneously, organisations face:
- Overlapping migration pressure
- Limited availability of specialist skills
- Rising operational and compliance risk
- Unplanned cost escalation
The lifecycle table in the free whitepaper (no registration) makes this visible at a glance, showing 16 Microsoft project management products and their support timelines side by side.
This is where “waiting a bit longer” stops being a neutral option.
Supported does not mean future-proof
A key insight from the whitepaper is the distinction between:
- Technical support status, and
- Strategic sustainability
Some platforms remain supported, but are clearly positioned for sustainment rather than innovation. Microsoft’s strategic investment has shifted toward a role-based ecosystem, deliberately separating:
- Execution (Planner)
- Planning and control (Project desktop / Project Plans)
- Governance and insight (Power BI, Power Platform)
There is no single successor to Project Server or Project Online. Migration is therefore not a lift-and-shift, but a redesign of how project work is organised and governed.
Why 2026 matters
The decisions organisations defer today will still need to be made – but under less favourable conditions:
- Higher risk
- Higher cost
- Less freedom of choice
Lifecycle milestones do not force a specific solution, but they do force a decision.
What the whitepaper provides
- Complete lifecycle overview across relevant Microsoft’s project management and portfolio management products
- Feature comparison table for Project, Planner, Azure DevOps (Boards) and Dynamics 365 Project Operations
- Three migration scenarios, tailored to small, mid-sized, and large organisations
- Financial impact and cost ranges per scenario
- Guidance on treating migration as a modernisation of the project operating model, not a tooling upgrade
This enables management teams to move from reactive lifecycle management to explicit, time-bound decision-making. For a deeper analysis, download the whitepaper here. No registration needed:
